Energy Empire

Welcome to the Age of Energy Abundance A once-in-a-generation shift is underway in how the world is powered. Across the United States, clean energy now makes up more than 90% of new electricity added to the grid — not because of politics or ideology, but because these technologies simply work better. They’re cheaper to build, faster to deploy, and easier to scale than anything that came before. The technology is ready. Now the race is on to build it…everywhere. Energy Empire is a podcast about the people and ideas driving this transformation. We explore how abundant, affordable energy is reshaping the global economy, creating new industries, and unlocking what may be the greatest wealth-creation opportunity of our generation. Hosted by Jigar Shah — TIME100 honoree, serial entrepreneur, investor, and former U.S. Department of Energy leader — the show pulls back the curtain on the decisions, innovations, and power struggles shaping the future of energy.

Energy Empire is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 14 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Unknown Host hosts Energy Empire, a business show with 14 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Energy Empire

  NVIDIA on Whether AI Can Fix Its Own Power Problem | Recorded Live at Climate Week NYC

  Oct 2, 202632 min

  AI data centers are straining the grid. NVIDIA and Phaidra say part of the fix is more AI: software that runs the cooling, data centers that ease off when demand peaks, and chips that do more with every watt. This episode was recorded live at The Nest Campus during Climate Week NYC. Jigar and Jamie talk with Josh Parker, head of sustainability at NVIDIA, and Jim Gao, co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA-backed Phaidra. In this episode: An AI agent that predicts heat spikes on CoreWeave's NVIDIA chips and stops them before they hit Why NVIDIA is cooling its chips with 113°F coolant to cut water use Whether AI needs gigawatt-scale data centers, or GPUs on the side of a house How half a percent of flexibility could free up about 100 gigawatts on the US grid The cost of adding 12 hours of battery backup to a $125 million data center What it would take for a data center to lower its neighbors' power bills Learn more at energyempire.fm

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  Energy Empire

  The Permitting Bill Is Out. Senator Heinrich Walks Us Through It.

  Sep 30, 202632 min

  Four senators introduced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act on September 30. One of them recorded this episode with Jigar the day before. The bill puts deadlines on federal environmental reviews, gives opponents 150 days to sue instead of five years, hands the federal government a backstop for interstate transmission, and, as Heinrich describes it, bars utilities from putting a data center's grid costs on anyone else's bill. Martin Heinrich is the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and negotiated the deal with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Republican chairs Shelley Moore Capito and Mike Lee. In this episode: Why Heinrich didn't wait for a Democratic Senate: "why don't you just wait until you have the gavel?" The difference between a "sternly worded letter" and a law when a hyperscaler wants to plug in The one-year clock a state gets before a transmission route goes to FERC Why a geothermal well is harder to permit than an oil well on the same acre of federal land What got "a little rocky" with the White House the week before the deal "If you're calling people ratepayers, you're probably making some mistakes" Submit a question to Ask Jigar: https://octopusenergy.com/ask-jigar S2G Investments: https://www.s2ginvestments.com/insights/report-illusion-of-crowds Octopus Energy: https://octopusenergy.com/faas Our merch store: https://energy-empire.bonfire.com/collection/all-products

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  Energy Empire

  Energy on the Ballot: Who Do You Blame for Your Electric Bill?

  Sep 28, 202637 min

  Electricity bills are rising across America, and for the first time in years, they're a campaign issue. Candidates on the left and the right are promising to cut your power bill. But are they even the ones in charge? What gets decided in Washington, and what gets decided in your state capital? And how do you tell a real promise from an empty one? Those questions are what Energy on the Ballot is for: a new series from Energy Empire, released every Monday until Election Day. To kick it off, Jigar and Jamie sit down with Arnab Pal, co-founder and executive director of Deploy Action, who spends his days in state capitals pushing laws that make utilities use the grid they already have before they build more and bill you for it. Together they walk through the basics: what really makes a power bill go up, who signs off on it, and which of this year's promises to lower it can be kept. Recorded in person at the new Energy Empire studio in New York. In this episode: Why the backlash against data centers is really a backlash against AI, and why the tech companies didn't see it coming The extra $5.77 a month on Arkansas power bills after the local utility refused to let Google pay for its own grid upgrades Promises made: Trump's pledge to halve energy bills in 12 months, New Jersey Governor Mikey Sherrill's rate freeze that became a $25 credit, and a Big Tech pledge nobody can point a dollar to Paying people to use less power at peak times is 80% cheaper than building a new gas plant, so why aren't more utilities offering it? Why your state legislator matters more than your member of Congress when it comes to your power bill Learn more at energyempire.fm

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  Energy Empire

  Balcony Solar Costs $285. Why Is It Still So Hard to Get?

  Sep 24, 202652 min

  In Germany you pick up a solar panel at IKEA or the grocery store and plug it in at home. Here you order online, the cheapest kits can take four months to arrive, and in most states you still technically need your utility's permission to install it. Cora Stryker co-founded Bright Saver, a nonprofit that sells the kits at cost, $285 for a 180 watt system. They helped draft Utah's balcony solar bill, the first in the country, and have since worked with legislators in 35 states and DC. Nine have passed laws so far. In this episode: Why some states make you hire an electrician to plug in an appliance What a $285 panel takes off a monthly bill, and how fast it pays for itself The emails from PG&E that killed Bright Saver's first business model The for-profit company that rewrote one state's bill so only its own product would be legal Why balcony solar has bipartisan support When Cora thinks you'll be able to buy one at Walmart Submit a question to Ask Jigar: https://octopusenergy.com/ask-jigar S2G Investments: https://www.s2ginvestments.com/insights/report-illusion-of-crowds Octopus Energy: https://octopusenergy.com/faas Our merch store: https://energy-empire.bonfire.com/collection/all-products

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  Episode #36

  Power Prices Have Barely Moved in 10 Years. So Why Is Your Bill Going Up?

  Sep 17, 202650 min

  In most of America, the cost of generating electricity has barely moved since 2015. But, over the same 10 years, residential rates are up 37% (EIA). Lee Taylor has spent 13 years pricing power in every corner of the country. He joins Energy Empire to explain what you're actually paying for, and why a windy day in Oklahoma never shows up on your bill. Lee is the co-founder and CEO of Resurety. He funded the company in 2013 by selling shares in his own future income. Last year he got federal approval for CleanTrade, the first regulated exchange for wind and solar power, which now has 60 participants and $50 billion in bids. In this episode: The three buckets on your bill, and why the one that keeps growing has nothing to do with generating power Oklahoma gets 45% of its power from wind and prices haven't moved in a decade. West Virginia has almost none, and prices are up 50% California has some of the cheapest electricity in the country and the most expensive bills. Both are true The $5,000 electricity bills from the Texas freeze, and why cheap power always comes with a catch A 1,000-page application, DOGE, and 4 of 5 commissioners gone: getting a first-of-its-kind market through Washington "Tax credits were always a really blunt force way to get around the fact that we don't actually charge for carbon" Submit a question to Ask Jigar: https://octopusenergy.com/ask-jigar S2G Investments: https://www.s2ginvestments.com/insights/report-illusion-of-crowds Octopus Energy: https://octopusenergy.com/faas Our merch store: https://energy-empire.bonfire.com/collection/all-products

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